Corps opens bidding on three-year Anchorage Harbor dredging contract

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District on Thursday sought proposals for a three-year contract to survey, dredge and dispose of about 900,000 cubic yards of fine-grained shoaled material each year at Anchorage Harbor from 2027 through 2029. Proposals are due at 2 pm Dec. 7.

The contractor must do the work in a way that keeps the Port of Alaska dock face and terminals open to shipping traffic at all times. That port serves about 90% of Alaska's population and receives about half of all goods entering the state, the Corps has said.

An option would add 350,000 cubic yards a year of sandy material with some cobbles from the Cook Inlet Navigation Channel, which the solicitation describes as the marked entrance through Knik Arm Shoal to the harbor. Award is subject to the availability of funds.

A Nome port official said last month that the district had no 2027 maintenance dredging money lined up for a number of Alaska ports, with Anchorage the exception. The official said the district had other chances to find funds.

Any qualified firm may compete. The Corps may weigh technical merit against price in choosing a winner, and the contract would be firm-fixed-price, meaning the price generally does not change with the contractor's costs. Federal construction wage rates, formerly known as Davis-Bacon rates, apply.

The notice lists a $37 million size standard. That figure marks the small-business threshold for this type of work, not a cost estimate. The Corps has published no estimate for the job.

An earlier market-survey notice anticipated a Jan. 10, 2027, award. It called for hopper or mechanical dredges and excluded cutterhead, suction and pipeline equipment.

Congress authorized a deep-water harbor in Anchorage in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1958. The Corps has maintained it to a depth of 35 feet since the 1960s, with a season that typically runs from May 1 to Nov. 1. The Corps said in 2020 that dredging must pause if a beluga whale comes within 50 meters of the vessel.

The port is one of 17 sites in the country the Department of Defense designates as a strategic commercial seaport, according to the Corps.